


Like a Balloon

by silversky27



Series: SouHaru Week 2k15 [7]
Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, SouHaru Week, i guess, really long metaphor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 21:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5390516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversky27/pseuds/silversky27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Haru woke up that morning, he found that he couldn’t move. Normally, this would be cause for concern, but Haru was okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Balloon

**Author's Note:**

> For the last day of Souharu week!  
> Prompt: Free

                When Haru woke up that morning, he found that he couldn’t move.

                Normally, this would be cause for concern, but Haru was okay. Here, he was comfortable, caught under the arm of his sleeping lover as Sousuke slept their Saturday morning away. Looking at Sousuke’s drooling, sleeping face, Haru couldn’t stop the gentle grin that came across his face. Thinking back, he was glad that he had somehow found his way here.

~

                Haru had always been rather odd, with an odd concept of what it meant to be free. Growing up, had many people to ground him, to make him feel at home. When he was younger, he had his parents, his grandmother, and Makoto. He hadn’t felt the need to be free because why would he? Everything he needed was right here. Then, his parents were gone, leaving him with his grandmother and Makoto. He was okay. All he needed was Makoto and his grandmother.

                Then there was Rin, in and out in the blink of an eye, replacing the void that his parents had left, and then destroying the tether moments later. Things went downhill fast, his grandmother dying not long after. He had Makoto. Haru knew he was making things hard for Makoto, and felt bad for it. He just found that he wanted to be _free_. Why be attached when they would leave? Makoto was the only one who Haru would not cut free from, like Makoto was a child, trying to hold onto a balloon caught in the wind. Makoto seemed to be afraid to pull on Haru. Whenever he slightly tugged, the wind would pick up, causing Makoto to loosen his grip but never letting go. Deep down, Haru felt terrible. Makoto didn’t deserve the treatment, didn’t deserve to have to deal with this on his own. But Makoto never gave up on him, causing Haru to love him all the more. He was his only family, and Haru did try.

                High school was a centering point. His swim team created even more tethers. Haru was slowly realizing these were his friends with every hijink Nagisa dragged them on, and when Rei joined them, it made him all the more whole. These people wouldn’t leave. These were people he _wanted_ to swim with. Even Rin had repaired his tether. He could almost feel his toes touching the ground again.  Then their third year happened, and the fear of the future caused him to reel back, the urge to be free striking him even more than before.

                But then there was Sousuke. This man who seemed hate him with every fiber of his being was for some reason the most grounding. Sousuke who dragged Haru, kicking and screaming, straight to the ground, neither moving forward until Sousuke had deemed that Haru was ready. It took Haru a while to realize that these interventions actually helped. It made him think, Sousuke not letting him run away.

                After graduation, Haruka was surprised to find that he was the one keeping Sousuke tethered down. Despite the constant hounding on Haru, Sousuke had absolutely no plan for his future. The other man had shown up on Haru’s doorstep one afternoon looking so awkward that the faint bond they had created urged Haru to let him in.

                 They worked together from then on. Each pushing each other, pressing the other’s buttons to help them find their way forward. In a way, they had both lost their major supports. Makoto was off in Tokyo, and Haru knew that Makoto couldn’t always bear Haru’s problems. Rin was off in Australia, chasing his own dreams, and Sousuke needed someone there to tell that he wasn’t lying through his teeth when he said that he was okay.

                 Haruka had found support in a person he never thought he would, but he wouldn’t change it for the world. Here, stuck under another man’s arm, he was warm. Here, listening to the soft snores that Sousuke made, he felt protected. With Sousuke, he felt more free than he ever had.   

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at theglowqueen.tumblr.com


End file.
